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Comment: A book with obvious wear. May have some damage to the cover or binding but integrity is still intact. There might be writing in the margins, possibly underlining and highlighting of text, but no missing pages or anything that would compromise the legibility or understanding of the text.

Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong-sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it's nothing short of miraculous.

Taking some of the most popular, bestselling recent games, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process, whether it's RPG studio Bioware's challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Age: Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone's single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man's vision into a multi-million-dollar franchise; or Bungie spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—even as it nearly ripped their studio apart.

Documenting the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell—and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Necessary to read… by the end, my only complaint about Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is that there wasn’t more to read.” (Forbes.com)

“Making video games is one of most transformative, exciting things I’ve done in my two decades as a freelance writer. Making video games is also an excruciating journey into Hellmouth itself. Jason Schreier’s wonderful book captures both the excitement and the hell. Here, at long last, is a gripping, intelligent glimpse behind a thick (and needlessly secretive) creative curtain.” (Tom Bissell, author of Extra Lives and Apostle, and writer on the Gears of War, Uncharted, and Battlefield franchises)

“A meticulously researched, well-written, and painful at times account of many developers’ and studios’ highs and lows. May need to make it required reading for the developers at my studio.” (Cliff Bleszinski, creator of Gears of War and founder of Boss Key Productions)

“The stories in this book make for a fascinating and remarkably complete pantheon of just about every common despair and every joy related to game development.” (Rami Ismail, cofounder of Vlambeer and developer of Nuclear Throne)

“Jason Schreier brilliantly exposes the truth about how video games are made. Brutal, honest, yet ultimately uplifting; I’ve been gaming for thirty years, yet I was surprised by every page. Turns out what I didn’t know about my favorite hobby could fill a book. This book! Can’t recommend it enough to any serious fan of this generation’s greatest new art form.” (Adam Conover, executive producer and host of truTV’s Adam Ruins Everything)

“...his enthusiasm is contagious; even if you’ve never played one of these games, you’ll be riveted by the account of how they came to be.” (Booklist)

“Schreier covers the notoriously secretive gaming industry… and he knows it well… He also clearly respects [the] developers and their achievements, and treats their rueful tales of selfless struggle with an admiring deference…a useful survey of the landscape of game production at this cultural moment.” (GQ)

“Schreier sets each scene with admirable prowess, giving the reader just enough information to feel the weight of each story. For anyone who has ever wondered how some of the most successful games are made, this book is a real eye-opener… At its heart, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is an ode to the people who put every fiber of their being into making memorable experiences for gamers all over the world.” (Fiction Southeast)

“Lively writing… For fans of video games, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a must read, but anyone interested in stories about the hard process of making art is also sure to enjoy it.” (Shelf Awareness)

“One of the most insightful pieces of text I’ve ever read… It’s a well-written tale of real sacrifice, struggles, and more, it’s almost inspiring despite how sad it can be at times.” (GameZone)

From the Back Cover

The creative and technical logistics that go into building today’s hottest games can be more fraught with challenges and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of six hundred overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong–sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it’s nothing short of miraculous.

Examining some of the bestselling games and most infamous failures, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process, whether it’s RPG studio BioWare’s challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Age: Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone’s single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man’s vision into a multimillion-dollar franchise; or Bungie employees spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand-new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—even as it nearly ripped their studio apart.

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell—and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable.

Finally, a book that captures the complexity of game development that anyone can pick up and enjoy. Jason Schreier of Kotaku spent two years traveling around the world to score in depth interviews with the industry's most renowned studios. Drawing from sources speaking both on and off the record, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels provides a rare glimpse into the pain and passion that go into bringing a modern video game to market. In ten absorbing chapters Schreier covers the downright grueling development process behind such hits as Blizzard's Diablo III, Naughty Dog's Uncharted 4, CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3 and, of course, Bungie's Destiny.

Speaking of Destiny, it was Schreier's crucial 2015 exposé that laid the groundwork for this wonderful little book. (Portions of his chapter on Destiny are taken directly from that article.) As fans of the blockbuster series will remember, that Kotaku piece brought Destiny's murky origin story to light. Importantly, it provided the necessary background for understanding how the company that gave us Halo could have produced — at least at launch — such a lackluster title. Subpar development tools, a strained relationship with publisher Activision, and the complete reboot of the story (following the departure of lead writer Joe Staten) just one year from release had a lot to do with it. As a source tells Schreier, “A lot of the problems that came up in Destiny 1...are results of having an unwavering schedule and unwieldy tools."

What we learned then from Scheier's keen reporting, and what comes across as clear as day in his first book, is that making games is incredibly hard and almost impossibly demanding. Harder, perhaps, than any other creative medium. Thanks to their interactive nature and sheer potentiality, games are capable of delivering the boundless, memorable experiences we've come to love. But it's those same elements that make them such a chore to create, even for seasoned veterans.

One of the designers at Obsidian (of Fallout: New Vegas fame) he interviews puts it this way: "making games is sort of like shooting movies, if you had to build an entirely new camera every time you started." Indeed, the tools and technologies used to develop the latest games are constantly in flux, as is the creative vision of the producers and directors at the top. A change in either area can prove hugely disruptive to the overall process — a process that hinges on pushing a marketable product out the door by an agreed upon deadline. It's that constant give and take between concept and technology, between developer and publisher, that defines the medium.

Internal conflicts can also run a project off course. Artists and programmers might spend months, years even, sketching and coding characters, environments, quests, set pieces and combat mechanics, only to see it all thrown out as a result of higher-ups taking the game in an entirely different direction. When Naughty Dog replaced Uncharted 4's creative director Amy Hennig in 2014 — roughly two years into the game's development — the story was more or less scrapped. That meant that cut scenes, animation, and thousands of lines of recorded voicework on which the studio had already spent millions of dollars got the axe, too. For an artist emotionally invested in their work, this can be heartbreaking and demotivating.

In other cases, such as the abortive Star Wars 1313, a decision by the publisher can bring it all crashing down. As Scheier recounts in the closing chapter, LucasArts, formerly a subsidiary of Lucasfilm, began work on a new action-adventure Star Wars game in 2010. The game debuted at E3 in 2012 to wide critical acclaim. Shortly afterward, the company was acquired by Disney. By 2013, Disney had shuttered the studio, and canceled every one of its projects. For all the work the dedicated crew at LucasArts poured into their pet project, Star Wars 1313 was never meant to be.

Given the many technical hitches, logistical nightmares, corporate pressures, and unforeseen obstacles that threaten success, it's no small wonder that any games are shipped at all. As Schreier points out, there's hardly a game on the market today that doesn't run up against insane crunch periods and dramatic setbacks over the course of its development. Whether it's a small team working on a 2D side-scroller à la Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight or a massive effort spread across hundreds of staff in the case of BioWare's Dragon Age, producing a quality game in today's highly competitive environment is by any measure a herculean effort.

Virtually every insider consulted for the book talks about how taxing the job can be on one's physical health and personal relationships. Burnout is common. And even with working around the clock for months on end — often sans overtime pay, as it's not required in the US — games rarely come out on time. Delays and cancellations are a feature, not a bug. To be sure, any successful career in game development is built on passion and an enthusiasm for creating unique playable spaces, but it's one that comes with significant costs that only the truly dedicated may be equipped to endure.

Closing Thoughts

Leave it to Jason Schreier to shatter any utopic notions about game development. Behind the glossy visuals and destructible environments we take for granted on screen lies a hellish landscape of Sisyphean creative challenges and brutal working hours. As the title suggests, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels constantly reminds us that game production is as much about self-sacrifice as it is about crafting quality interactive experiences. And if these breezy oral histories are any indication, it's a principle that holds true whether you're a bootstrapped indie developer beholden to Kickstarter donors or a lowly cog in the big-budget corporate machine.

Schreier is a most welcome guide, bringing more casual readers up to speed on esoteric conversations ranging from rendering paths and game engines to bug testing and content iteration times. It's a testament to his talents that the book never seems to flag, even when exploring games I didn't particularly care about. While I wish Schreier had ventured more deeply into the ethics of crunch culture, his penchant for meticulous, well researched investigative journalism is on full display here.

If you have even a passing interest in gaming be sure to pick this one up. I came away with a better understanding of the personal sacrifices and creative compromises that appear to go hand in hand with making video games, and a newfound perspective on increasingly commonplace monetization strategies like paid downloadable content (PDLC) and microtransaction (MTX) systems. Above all, it left me with a more profound appreciation for my most cherished hobby.

I gotta say, I'm a sucker when I comes to a biography or documentary. ESPECIALLY one that delves into the world of game creation. I'm a avid read of Kotaku, so when this gem popped up in the "about me" at the end of a Jason Schreier article, I knew I had to check it out! I will say that I'm not typically as interested in the "AAA" game development process as I am an indie game, but these chapters give enough information that I found reading those almost as interesting. But that's me,...nothing to do with Jason's writing style. That beings said, my two favorite chapters were "Stardew Valley" and "Shovel Knight". I'll admit, Stardew Valley really isn't my style of game (I tried it once), but the story behind it was amazing! Also, Shovel Knight I've never actually played, but this book made me get the game, so it does a really good job there! Each chapter tells a different story of the "creation" of a particular game. It doesn't go into all the details about what programs are used of where the workers got start in the industry (does tell backstories of a few during different chapters, but no particulars). It basically starts from where the game idea began and how it unfolded,...for better or worse.

I can only hope that Jason Schreier continues with more of this in the future. I'd love to hear about Five Nights at Freddy's, Ori and the Blind Forest, and Inside!

Final Verdict: If you enjoyed Indie Game: The Movie, this is a must read! If you enjoy reading anything about the creative process of video games, this is a must read! You know what, just read it! You won't be disappointed!

For those who haven't ever thought about the battle behind making a game, I think this book would be eye-opening. For those that are living the dream of game development, it is sobering and oddly comforting to see the brightest of studios aren't perfect. The honesty on display within these pages is rare for such a competitive industry, giving credit to Jason Schreier's hard work.

Yet, I have one issue with this book: who is the target audience?

To me, it seems to be written for those who aren't technical, often defining console names or what RAM is. This is smart to broaden the potential audience to see games as complex merger of software and art. But in many cases it can feel like this poppier approach comes at the expense of depth.

Much of the value of exploring issues that arise on complex projects is their detail. Lacking this outside of broad brush strokes reducing how compelling these issues are. Saying a team ran into a serious bug is like saying the sports ball men missed their goal. It's reductive and removes the tension in a way that makes this issue unrelatable. I understand this was likely to keep the book moving, but complexity can be described in a way that is still appealing to the general reader. With such a wonderful roster of smart minds and unique companies, I can't help but wish this was double the length and dripping with those technical details that only a nerd could embrace.